But WWE have come under fire after announcing a star-studded line-up… without any of its female athletes

Up until last autumn, women were barred from watching sporting events.

And fans have now accused WWE of double standards despite the company and its hugely-talented female roster continuing to break down barriers for women’s wrestling.

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Twitter exploded with rage at the announcement as Vince McMahon and his fellow wrestling chiefs were blasted by people claiming they were trying to cash in at the expense of the women’s revolution.

User @bainalan05 wrote: “So there will be no women’s wrestling at the so called Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia. #WWE should tell Saudi Arabia to allow women’s wrestling or they won’t come. Gender equality before profit. It isn’t 1974 anymore….”

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Another called @ShowtimeRHEC said: “Shame on @WWE for having this huge event in Saudi Arabia when they won’t even allow women to perform there. How can you claim a ‘women’s revolution’ and say they’re equal to men yet perform the biggest non-US show of the year in a country that treats women like garbage.”

A user called @luke_blishop commented: “WWE claiming they have an ‘unwavering commitment to their women’ while running shows in a country with such poor standards of women’s rights like Saudi Arabia seems weird.”

And @codycollier24 added: “You say you ‘care about the women’s division’ but then you end up having a show in Saudi Arabia where they have laws AGAINST women.”

And they were not the only ones angry:

WWE are doing an event in Saudi Arabia with a 50 man Royal Rumble, 7 title matches, and 0 women's matches. love that #WomensRevolution™

The @WWE will debut the documentary Empowered the same week it announces the card for event in Saudi Arabia, where no women will compete and the will be no women in the audience. @StephMcMahon#Hypocrisy

But not everybody slammed the decision, with @ButIAmRoxy defending WWE by replying: “WWE has shows all over the world. Just one show in Saudi Arabia does not mean they are against women or they don’t care. Each country has its own culture.”

This is not the first time that WWE have faced similar issues to this and in December they made history as Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss became the first women wrestlers to perform in front of an audience at a WWE live event in Abu Dhabi.

During a previous WWE live event in the United Arab Emirates capital, women had not been permitted to compete, a stipulation that was changed this time.

And Banks spoke afterwards of how extremely supportive she felt that audience had been.

WWE stars Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss become first women ever to wrestle in the UAE

WWE chief Stephanie McMahon has been at the forefront of the huge push in women’s wrestling

She said: “When I walked through the arena and the crowd and I had my entrance, I was very surprised at the reception. They don’t really get women’s matches over there and so when I spotted women in the crowd I was very surprised.

“The reactions and support I got was so empowering. Hopefully it opens the doors for many more opportunities for women in that country.”

Females were barred from watching sporting events in Saudi Arabia until a decision was made last October to allow women into stadiums.

The country’s General Sports Authority made the move as part of Saudi’s latest slackening of the rules on gender segregation.